Around the really touristy part of the Himalayas the legend of the yeti is so interwoven with the western reports of the creature that it’s not always easy to separate the honest belief from the tourist tale...

Fresh Water Detective, Biologist and Extreme Anlger Jeremy Wade is breaking the surface and diving into the lairs of aquatic beasts with six brand-new episodes as the hit series returns to ITV1 on Tuesday 12th April 7.30PM with some of the most daring River Monsters expeditions to date.

The RiverMonsters #WhatWeSee exhibition showcases photographic images from itv’s hit series and global phenomenon River Monsters hosted by extreme angler explorer Jeremy Wade, and produced in Bristol by Icon Films.

Visitors will get up close and personal with some of Wade’s biggest catches, most remote and inhospitable fishing locations and bizarre looking fish.

Presented by Icon Films, and hosted by Bristol Aquarium, the exhibition is open to the public from Friday 27th November to Sunday 21st February

This year, during their 5 days of meetings, creative discussions, screenings and partying Harry, Laura and Andie will be joining esteemed peers across three panels and attending the screenings of our finalist film Africa's Giant Killers, produced in association with Natural History Unit Botswana - see timings below:

Wed 30th September 10.30 - 11.30am, Seminar Room Case Study: UHD Workflow Taking your UHD field material all the way through post to deliver a UHD master has very specific workflow challenges you need to know about! Consider this a “master class” opportunity to bypass an expensive learning curve, as we break down three projects from pre-production to delivery.Sarah Hume (Moderator & Session Producer), DiscoveryEmre Izat, Off the Fence ProductionsFrederick Fougea, BorealesAndie Clare, Icon FilmsHiroyuki Kozako, NHK/Japanese Broadcasting

Thurs 1st October 10.30 - 11.30am, Seminar Room Popular Programming10:30 – 11:30 Seminar RoomHow far are we willing to go to win the race for high ratings? Pop programming does not have to mean bad programming. Meet filmmakers and programmers who have managed to get great numbers and not compromise quality. This session is a conversation on how to raise the bar in this important programming sector.Carol Fleisher (Session Producer & Moderator), FleisherfilmGeoff Daniels, National Geographic WILDDavid Dugan, Windfall Films Harry Marshall, Icon Films Kurt Tondorf, Animal Planet

Icon Films, has been commissioned by Channel 4 to produce a 1 x 60 England’s Vampires in association with THIRTEEN Productions LLC for WNET.

Icon Films is to produce ‘England’s Vampires’ a one hour documentary that brings together medieval manuscripts, new archaeological finds and a shocking interview with a real-life vampire slayer shedding light on disturbing rituals from Europe’s past and to show that Dracula’s roots lie in fact not fiction.

In 2004 Professor John Blair from Oxford University, made the connection between folktales from Medieval manuscripts describing rituals to dispatch the walking dead and archaeological finds of disturbed Anglo Saxon graves. There was a striking similarity between the violent actions performed on the skeletons in the grave and what was described by the texts. Could this be proof that the folktales were real? Then Professor Blair came across a case of a vampire slaying in modern Romania. The ritual that the vampire slayer described bore striking similarities to those described by the medieval text. The three pieces of evidence stack up to suggest that in Medieval England there was indeed a belief in Vampires.

The documentary goes on to explore why this belief in vampires may have existed and why people were motivated to perform such gruesome acts on a corpse.

‘Commissioned for Channel 4’s Secret History strand and PBS’s Secrets of the Dead strand, it is exciting to bring together historical and archaeological evidence to shed new light on a part of our history that until now has been little known about and even less understood. The results make chilling Television’ said Owen Gay, Executive Producer, Icon Films

Download the Press release…

‘River Monsters Fish On!’ – the essential digital logbook for River Monsters fans and anglers of all ages launches exclusive River Monsters video content and classic clips from the hit TV show River Monsters for the first time as well as all new features and functionality.

The latest version of River Monsters Fish On!, available on iOS and Android, features:

Home page re-design with improved navigation

Comment feature – comment on fellow users catches

Follow feature – follow a user or geographical area and receive notifications when new catches are logged

Plus, new ‘River Monsters Extra’ subscription (£2.99 per annum) gives access to additional features and original content:

Channel 4 has commissioned Bristol based production company, Icon Films to produce a 1x60’ behind the scenes look at the super-exclusive world of the South of France’s yachting community.

At least 60m in length, the mega-yachts docked along the affluent ports and harbours on the Mediterranean coast are pinnacles of wealth, luxury and opulence. This film will be meeting the super-wealthy owners, the crew, cutting-edge designers, builders and brokers of these incredible yachts.

The film will follow the big business of big boats across one summer season as they gear up for the The Monaco Yacht Show in September. Taking place in Monaco’s Port Herculé, it is the centre of the yachting universe and moors some of the largest, most expensive and most glamorous mega-yachts in the Mediterranean.

(WASHINGTON, D.C. – July 29, 2015) HBO’s hit series “Game of Thrones” is renowned for its fascinating characters and plot twists that tell a fantastical story in a magical world. Nat Geo WILD’s Big Game of Throneswt needs no magic to tell its real-life story of ruthless predators and powerful prey whose interconnected lives expose rivalries, betrayals, battles, struggles and triumphs. It is a never-ending crusade for survival with characters so wild and conflict so cutthroat that no fiction can do it justice. Big Game of Thrones wt,the epic miniseries event produced by Icon Films in association with Natural History Unit Botswana, will premiere on Nat Geo WILD globally in 2016.

Download the Press release…

Here at Icon Films we are incredibly lucky to have such a fantastic view overlooking College Green and the Cathedral. It’s too lovely to keep to ourselves, so we thought we’d share it with you in the form of a time-lapse.

Icon Films, based in offices overlooking College Green, makes a vast range of programmes for television channels across the world, including Animal Planet US, River Monsters, Sandhurst and The One Show.

Managing director Laura Marshall is responsible for the overall strategy of the company, personnel development and marketing. Laura is also heavily involved with media organisations in the city. She was chair of Bristol Old Vic Trust from 2010 to 2013 and continues to sit on the board, is a member of the Society of the Merchant Venturers, and a governor of the Merchants’ Academy in Withywood.

On Saturday April 25th 2015 Icon's film crew wrapped filming in the remote mountains of Nepal and began the long journey home. The first leg was an 8 hour drive along the narrow base of the Kali Gandaki gorge. Above our heads the cliffs were peppered with giant boulders, which clung precariously to the steep sides. Finally, the valley widened and our convoy began snaking its way away from the vertical cliff faces. That's when we got the call...there had been an earthquake.

Unable to distinguish it from the lurching of our vehicles on the rocky terrain, we had been blissfully unaware of the tremor, but now our drivers and local crew began furiously punching at their mobile phones, trying to get through to their loved ones in Kathmandu, with little success. The phone lines were down. Eventually some news got through: our fixer's wife had fallen, cracked her skull and was bleeding badly. We later found out that she was one of the lucky ones. More than 8000 people died that day in the biggest earthquake to hit Nepal in over 80 years.

We too were unbelievably lucky. Had we left a few hours later that morning, we would still have been in the gorge where those unstable rocks reportedly rained down when the Earth shook.

Nepal needs our support. This week another quake further ravaged the country and with the impending monsoon, there is much urgent work to be done. So a massive THANK YOU to all Iconites for your generous donations. Harry and Laura matched our contribution bringing the grand total to a whopping £2098 which has been divided between DEC and Nepal in Need.

Icon Films and University of Bristol Engineering Department Build The UK’s First Successful Lead Balloon, for BBC’s One Show

Bristol based independent TV production company, Icon Films, teams up with Engineering Design Students from University of Bristol to design and construct the UK’s First Lead Balloon, for The One Show.

Following their successful challenge in 2014 building a functional chocolate teapot, Icon Films and Marty Jopson enlist the expertise of University of Bristol’s Engineering Design Students to dispel the idiom and prove it is possible to fly a Lead Balloon.

This one hour documentary film reunites director cinematographer Brad Bestelink and film photographer Richard Uren to capture more extraordinary wildlife footage in the Savute Game Reserve in Botswana. The film will again form part of the BBC’s Natural World strand.

Download the Press release…

Consider this an official warning – MONSTER WEEK returns to Animal Planet from Sunday May 17th, and it’s jam-packed with some of the most terrifying beasts to ever have inhabited Earth. That’s why this year’s MONSTER WEEK needs nine nights to investigate these horrifying creatures, whose teeth and claws strike fear into viewers watching from the comfort of their living rooms.

MONSTER WEEK wraps with an epic two-hour extended Director's Cut RIVER MONSTERS: Jurassic-Sized Prehistoric Terror, as freshwater detective Jeremy Wade embarks on a mission to uncover horrifying killers from the depths of time. Featuring never-before-seen footage, monster-sized catches and one of the most horrifying creatures Jeremy ever has laid hands on, this special episode of Animal Planet’s most-watched series explores fearsome, prehistoric beasts that are brought back to life by combining Jeremy’s unique understanding of modern-day monsters with state-of-the-art CGI. Super-sized piranhas, fanged swamp sharks and the nightmarish ‘buzz-saw killer’ are but a few of the real-life predators from long-lost worlds that Jeremy encounters on his quest to unveil the most terrifying RIVER MONSTERS that ever have lived.

Download the Press release…

Icon Films has today launched the first official YouTube channel dedicated to its global hit ‘River Monsters’ brand.

The company is collaborating with YouTube specialist Little Dot Studios to create the dedicated channel devoted to the TV programme, now in production of its 8th season. ‘River Monsters’ is sold worldwide to 109 territories to over 20 different language channels and is the biggest show on Animal Planet US.

RIVER MONSTERS debuted on Animal Planet Sunday 12th April 2015 with a monstrous season premiere, ranking as the most-watched River Monsters opener – and most-watched season premiere ever on the network - among P25-54 in ratings (1.2) and delivery (1.15M) based on Live+3 data, which includes three days of time-shifted viewing. The season opener, “Canadian Horror,” reeled in 1.9M P2+ viewers, 1.3M HH and 1.1M P18-49 in L+3.

Download the Press release…

Icon Films has expanded Exec Producer Stephen McQuillanroleto encompass Head of Development. His strong journalistic and broad factual background will allow Icon Films to build on their reputation as Specialist Factual producers.

McQuillan joined Icon Films in 2013. He will continue to EP and in his new role will head up the development team and spearhead the strategy to expand the company’s factual output.

Stephen said ‘It is an exciting challenge to lead the development team at Icon in a time when we are seeking growth in new areas. I hope we can create new factual formats and continue to produce shows that we are all proud of.”

Harry Marshall, Creative Director of Icon Films, said ‘Stephen's appointment will allow us to expand into new areas. It's fantastic to have his seasoned judgement and experience of the industry with a proven ability to not only deliver but also surprise and delight'.

Download the Press release…

JEREMY WADE GOES TO NEW DEPTHS IN THE MOST DARING RIVER MONSTERS EXPEDITIONS YET

Animal Planet’s best-performing series returns with the most daring RIVER MONSTERS expeditions to-date. Jeremy Wade, freshwater detective, biologist and extreme angler, is breaking the surface and diving into the lairs of aquatic beasts with six brand-new episodes of the seventh season of RIVER MONSTERS, premiering Sunday, April 5, at 9 PM (ET/PT).

In the RIVER MONSTERS season finale, Wade travels back in time to uncover the greatest river monster that ever lived in the ground-breaking special RIVER MONSTERS: PREHISTORIC TERROR, premiering in late May during Animal Planet’s fourth annual MONSTER WEEK.

By Brad Bestelink, Producer/director/cinematographer, Natural History Film Unit Botswana

Of all the large predators in the African bush, leopards are by far the most secretive. Just finding them is tricky; sticking with them, and filming the intimate details of their lives, is something that required luck, determination, and a great deal of time. But it was a challenge that my friend Richard Uren and I always felt privileged to be taking on.

Bristolian artist Jamie Gillman’s latest commission has been revealed by Icon Films. The seven foot sculpture is a life size replica of the 250lb Arapaima that Jeremy Wade caught in 2013, for Season Six of River Monsters.

The Potala Palace, Tibet. Chernobyl, Ukraine. The Zambezi River. The Yassuni Biosphere Reserve, Ecuador. The Empty Quarter, Saudi Arabia. The Berkeley Estate, Gloucestershire. The old Biological Sciences building at this university. These are just some of the places, far and near, that feature in the productions of Icon Films.

Her Majesty The Queen. The Dalai Lama. Henry Kissinger. Iris Murdoch.Rod Steiger. David Attenborough. Joanna Lumley. These are just a few of the people that Icon has filmed with.

King cobras. Tigers. Great white sharks. The Loch Ness Monster. The Yeti. The bones of the Buddha. Einstein’s Brain. Darwin’s diseases. Hinduism, Buddhism and Islam. These are just a handful of the subjects about which Icon has made films. Films that have landed Emmy, Grierson and Christ awards, as well as prizes at numerous film festivals.

Icon is a leading light in the creative economy of Bristol, which houses the world’s greatest concentration of natural history filmmakers. And with us this afternoon are the creative director of Icon, Harry Marshall, and its managing director, Laura Marshall. Usually, on these occasions, there’s one honorary graduand. In view of this unusual award of degrees to a husband and wife, I’ve been granted some extra time. I’ll take them in alphabetical order, until their lives and careers combine.

The University of Bristol is recognising Icon Films' co founders, Laura and Harry Marshall with a Doctor of Laws honorary degree which will be awarded at a ceremony on 12th February in the Wills Memorial Building.

Download the Press release…

Consolidation in the unscripted content industry is at fever pitch, with multinational superindies merging, broadcasters buying stakes in prodcos, and prodcos themselves looking to form strategic alliances in the race for scale. But are there advantages in bucking the trend and staying truly indie, both for your production company, and for your potential clients? Hear from some of the top true indies who have chosen to declare their independence, as well as those who have gone the "strategic alliance" route. and also gain some insight into where the trend could be heading next.

When the skeletal remains of an estimated 28 people were discovered in the basement of the one-time London residence of Benjamin Franklin, people speculated that the Founding Father might have had a much darker side.

What had taken place in this elegant Georgian town house located in the heart of London at 36 Craven Street? Who was responsible for this hideaway of bones? Had the work of a serial killer been unearthed?

Secrets of the Dead investigates the mystery of Ben Franklin’s Bones, airing nationally Wednesday, January 28, 2015 from 10-11 pm ET on PBS

Download the Press release…

While celebrating Bristol’s success as a creative hub, Laura wonders why some London commissioners treat her as a yokel

Icon Films is based in Bristol, and this febrile, effervescent hub out south west is a fine place to be an indie. It's a dichotomous city, considered conservative and prosperous (think tobacco, Ministry of Defence and banking), but with a long history of innovation and dissent (think Cabot, Brunel and Wesley).

Bristol is home to some of the most innovative companies and institutions in the land. Quantum physicists and playwrights mingle here, using the formal and informal networks that exist – and, through this restless connectivity and constant hubbub, comes great work.

Independence is valued and encouraged – indeed, our elected mayor is an independent – and we have a Bristol Independence Day to celebrate independent traders. We even have our own currency, the Bristol Pound. And this year, Bristol takes on the mantle of European Green Capital.

How does this spirit support the creative industries? While we may be the third-largest production centre in the UK (after Manchester), we can't ignore the fact that we are dwarfed by London and the commissioning power centred there. In Bristol, we know we have to punch above our weight.

River Monsters Fish On! - the
essential digital logbook for anglers with exclusive content from hit TV series
River Monsters - is available now!

The simple to use Fish On! app will
connect you instantly to a global community of anglers, allowing you to log,
compare and compete for the biggest catch. Fish On! is free to download with
subscription content coming soon.

With Fish On! you can:

Log your catch in seconds while on the river bank – app will automatically
record your location, weather conditions and air pressure at time of catch

Upload your catch details at a later date (for those fishing in remote
locations without internet coverage!)

See fellow anglers’ catches appear in the directory in real time

Search the catch directory by species, bait, location etc. – take tips from
other anglers about what has worked best for them

See your total and average catch weights calculated automatically as your log
builds

River Monsters Fish
On! is the essential tool for anglers and River Monsters fans of all ages,
combining a simple, easy to use digital logbook, with exclusive River Monsters
content and knowledge.

Building
on the already established Go-Fish Angling
app, River Monsters Fish On! offers a
digital ‘logbook’ for anglers to record, rate and compare their catches, and
introduces a fresh look and exclusive River Monsters content. The app will be available worldwide excluding
USA, from 19th December 2014

Bristol based factual producer Icon Films has been awarded funding
from Creative Skillset’s Skills Investment Funds, which help companies
invest in the development of skills and talent in the UK creative industries.

Laura Marshall runs one of the most successful independent TV
productions in Bristol. Laura and her husband Harry are the driving force
behind Icon Films and are fast becoming serious players in the national and
international media scene.

And for a woman who describes herself as “slothful” Laura is a
bundle of energy who is committed to putting something back into the community.

‘Place our presenter at the heart of a tribe to learn ancient
skills, before he embarks on a death-defying challenge in the bush / forest /
wilderness / open ocean.’ A standard sort of a brief. Luckily, Hazen Audell is
a tireless adventurer so the death-defying challenges were looking good. Finding
suitable locations and tribes, however, would be a different matter.

Bigfoot Files: Expedition Special Bear has been selected as one of seven successful projects for the Science and Nature 2014 Pitching Session on Wednesday 25th June where Laura and Lucy will join 35 other creative teams from around the world pitching their latest projects in development.

Icon Films has hired Stephen McQuillanand Jonathan Jackson to join their Senior Management Team as part of the strategy to grow the company. McQuillan has joined as Executive Producer to work across development and production, and Jackson has been appointed to the newly created role of Financial Director.

In addition Tom Cooper has been hired as Post Production Supervisor and will be managing the existing in-house off-line edit suites and digital strategy as well as overseeing the fit out of 6 new off-line suites that are part of the office expansion.

Download the Press release…

National Geographic Channel announces Survive the Tribe, a six-part factual series exploring survival techniques of ancient tribes around the globe, produced by Icon Films.

The series tracks wilderness guide and suvival instructor Hazen Audel as he journeys to some of the world’s most inhospitable places, attempting survival
skills that have kept tribal people alive against the odds for thousands of
years.

Locations being visited include the Kalahari Desert, Mongolia and
Arctic Canada.

The series is scheduled to begin airing in the U.K. and
the U.S. in July, and internationally later in the year.

Download the Press release…

Icon Films’ Commercial Director Lucy Middelboe
is joining representatives from twenty-two UK TV indies and Channel 4 chief
executive David Abraham, for a schedule of meetings, presentations and pitches
with more than 100 Chinese leaders of Television and Broadcasting Stations,
programme directors and production companies.

Richard Uren and I spent two demanding (both physically and mentally)
but immensely rewarding years filming in Savute, Botswana. Being able
to immerse yourself fully in what was happening only happens in a few
select places and only in very particular times.

This is the
ultimate confrontation, where the biggest and strongest confront each
other to play out the greatest battle found in the wilds of Africa. And
when lions hunt elephants, it ignites an unusual sense of horror and
desperation. We lived surrounded by these scenes of horror and
desperation for so long that we became numb to it, just as we became
immune to the smell of death that permeated everything.

Following the season premiere at 11 PM ET/PT, Animal Planet's first-ever live aftershow, RIVER MONSTERS: LIVE WITH JEREMY WADE, drew in a strong 1M P2+ viewers.

Fans also were hooked on RIVER MONSTERS online and
across social platforms, as the season premiere saw an 85 percent
increase in Twitter activity compared to last season's premiere. RIVER MONSTERS
was among the top-five social shows in cable last night, excluding
sports and special events, according to Nielsen's SocialGuide. RIVER MONSTERS: LIVE WITH JEREMY WADE continued on AnimalPlanet.com, which contributed to three times the amount of unique visitors/streams to the RIVER MONSTERS fansite when compared with last season's premiere.

In the sixth-season premiere, extreme angler Jeremy Wade took viewers along as he investigated the sinking of the Sobra Santos
- one of the Amazon's largest maritime disasters - with as many as 200
passengers losing their lives to something mysterious in the waters.

Extreme Angler Jeremy Wade travels to the Amazon to embark on his longest journey yet in New Season of 'River Monsters'

-- Animal Planet's #1 Series Returns with an all South American Adventure --

-- And in a Rate Encounter, Jeremy Tangles with a Freshwater Foe That Isn't a Fish! --

Animal Planet's best-performing series ever for five years is back, and freshwater detective, biologist and extreme angler Jeremy Wade is taking viewers along on the mysterious adventure of a lifetime. Six brand-new episdoes of the sixth season of RIVER MONSTERS return on Sunday April 6 at 9pm (ET/PT) with a special two-hour long premiere called 'Amazon Apolcalypse'. Re-told by witnesses and passengers who survived the sinking of the Sobra Santos, it's a horrid and poignant story of one of the Amazon's largest martitime disasters. That night, as many as 200 passengers lost their lives, and something in the water is being blamed for many of the deaths. Wade is hell bent on finding out what it was ... or is.

Download the Press release…

After weeks of intensive viewing and a day of enthusiastic debate, the
experienced and distinguished judges have delivered their verdict in the
fields of network television, on-screen talent, craft, digital media
and regional television news for the RTS West Of England Awards.

The BBC’s Natural History Unit leads the way with a total of 20
nominations for a wide range of programmes it has made and commissioned.
Stand-out shows include Africa, Wild Arabia, Bill Bailey’s Jungle Hero
and The Natural World Series.

Production company Icon Films has scored 12 nominations spanning
categories from best specialist factual to best newcomer, for shows such
as River Monsters, BigFoot Files and Hustling America.

As more and more prodcos are acquired, the value of staying independent can sometimes be obscured by other considerations. Here, Icon Films’ managing director Laura Marshall provides an overview of how – and why – her company remains proudly independent.

Creative Director Harry Marshall, Managing
Director Laura Marshall, Commercial Director Lucy Middelboe and Exec Producer
Stephen McQuillan will be available at the UK Indies Stand at the Realscreen Summit 2014. They're looking forward to a packed week of
networking, meetings, sessions and snow, and of course drinks at the
Ambassador's Residence and dinner with Nat
Geo.

Harry is joining the distinguished
panel of Geoff Daniels (EVP & General Manager, Nat Geo Wild), Mike Gunton (Creative Director, Factual and Natural History Unit, BBC), Andrew Jackson (EVP, Landmarks and Specials, Discovery Channel) and David Royal (EVP, Programming & Production, Smithsonian Networks), to discuss
how networks are shaping the evolution of natural history content and how
content producers are ‘going with the flow’. Climate
Change? The State of Natural Historyis being moderated by Carl Hall (Managing Director, Warehouse 51 Productions) and
takes place on Monday 27th Jan in the International Ballroom East at
3.45 – 4.45pm ET.

Following the recent announcement that Angling Times readers have voted River Monsters TV Show Of The Year for the second consecutive year, Jeremy Wade had this to say:

"This award is very gratifying. We set out to make River
Monsters appeal to a wide audience, including non-anglers, because that is the
only way to get angling on terrestrial TV, and we have done that very
successfully. One unexpected bonus is the large number of children who are
getting excited about fish and the wider natural world through the programmes.
But at the same time we of course want keep the attention of anglers, who are
the real enthusiasts when it comes to the underwater world. They say that you
can't please all of the people all of the time, but this award seems to suggest
that we're doing something right. Thank you AT readers!"

For many years, slow lorises were considered just two distinct species, despite having overlapping ranges with a wide variety of small apes and monkeys, lorises, which cannot even leap or swim, were still lumped together, whereas their day-living cousins were divided into more and more species. We now know that nocturnal species use more subtle clues to differentiate themselves, and face masks, in the case of slow lorises are one of them.

How do you turn a pair of hiking boots into a film about the yeti? Well, it’s a long story – so, here goes.

In 1997 I was in the kingdom of Bhutan making a natural history film called The Last Shangri-La. We had a local nomad as a guide called Nado (which means Black) who carried all our equipment on his surly yaks from camp to camp. Nado wore an old pair of holey plimsolls – through which his toes poked - but every morning, when I woke, he’d be making the fire and feeding the yaks and have on my excellent Gore-Tex trekking boots, which I’d leave the night before to dry out by the fire.

As we came to the end of the expedition Nado suggested that if I gave him my boots I could sleep with his wife back at his village. I made a counter offer. If he told me where I could film a Migyur – the name the local give to the yeti - he could have my boots.

The Gromit Unleashed auction takes place this Thursday, 3rd
October. It represents the end of a wonderful 10 weeks for Bristol and for me
personally it represents the end of a beautiful friendship.

My Gromit,
Gromitasaurus, will be Lot
5 in the auction and I will be there on the night hoping to see him find a
new home and most importantly raise money for Wallace & Gromit's Grand
Appeal, to support sick children and their families at Bristol Children's
Hospital.

Nicholoas Head on Juggling airport -security checks with flamingos and tigers

Observational shooting these days, more often than not, means a one-man, multi-skilled cam-op/soundie/producer/director/AP/researcher /runner doing all jobs simultaneously while carrying all their own kit, collecting release forms and logging as they go.

Now add to that going through full airport-security checks roughly ten times per day, which include removing belts, boots and bags and any metal - and trying not to get run over by a jumbo jet.

It’s all in an average day for the Animal Airport directors as we document the lives of the Heathrow Animal Reception Centre staff who check animals in and out of the country.

I’ve always been interested in the world of gambling and proposition bets – outlandish tales of men who would bet huge amounts of money on anything and everything. Sometimes it would be as simple as guessing how many watermelons were in a truck but at other times it would require tremendous skill. Their physical dedication rivalled that of Olympic athletes and their mental abilities were up there with maths geniuses.

I read all the stories of famous hustlers who lived by their wits, and fell in love with that world, which has found its way into Hollywood movies from Ocean’s 11 to The Sting. And, after making The Real Hustle for BBC Three, when the opportunity arose to follow in the footsteps of my idols for Channel 5 in the three-part series Hustling America, I knew it was going to be a very personal journey. The question was would I be good enough to emulate the greatest gamblers of all time?

The moose are bugling and the aspen is turning,
snow dusts the tops of the mountains and great herds of natural
history film producers begin to make their bi-annual migration to the Grand
Tetons. A week of meetings, panels,
hiking, partying and creative discussions in one of the most beautiful places
on the planet is the draw

We wanted to follow in the footsteps of famous con men, says
Martin Turner

Once,
sharp-suited, fast-talking con men travelled across the US from town to town,
offering outlandish ‘proposition bets’ to anyone with a dollar to their name.

These wagers were, of course, skewed in the hustler’s favour,
usually involving some obscure skill they’d practised for years or a trick that
only they knew.

In sending Alex Conran in their footsteps, we wanted to combine
the most devious historic bets with new ones. For inspiration, we turned to the
very best: legendary hustlers such as Titanic Thompson and Amarillo Slim.

The raw
footage was breath-taking. On Bob Pollock’s TV screen, an under-water world
that only a few had ever seen was revealing itself. Weeks of hard work had paid
off.

“I saw
spectacular scenes that nobody has ever seen before — this is what the people
of Saudi Arabia don’t know exists right outside their door,” said Pollock. Pollock,
of Saudi Aramco’s Media Productions Division (MPD), had been working with award
winning U.K. film makers to capture the subsurface worlds of the Red Sea and
Arabian Gulf. The uncut footage had justified all the time and effort — the
film crew had struck gold. A global audience would now have the chance to see
the hidden treasures that lie beneath the two seas that flank the East and West
Coasts of Saudi Arabia. The Arabian Gulf was formed at the end of the last Ice
Age, some 10,000 years ago, and the Red Sea’s history goes back even further. This
story, however, begins back in 2008

Download the Press release…

River Monsters Pack of Teeth in 3D, An Icon Films
Production for Discovery Communications LLC in association with itv Global
Entertainment, airs on Sky 3D Channel Wednesday 31st July 2013

River Monsters Pack of Teeth sees intrepid
biologist and extreme angler Jeremy Wade venture deep into exotic back waters
in search of a flesh-eating river monster but this time, there’s an added
dimension.

Shot in glorious 3D, you’re right there with
him like never before as he navigates the Okavango delta of Botswana investigating
sinister stories of a deadly fish, rumoured to lurk unseen in these eerie
waters. A killer with shark-like teeth, there are tales of it hunting in packs,
feeding in frenzies on schooling fish and even human bodies. It sounds like the
work of giant piranhas but there’s nothing like that here. Or is there?
Monstrous fish may be the least of his worries though as Jeremy takes on
scorching heat, irritable hippos and man eating crocodile on his mission to
identify and catch this ravenous river monster.

Millions of
people watching YouTube videos of slow lorises may not have realised that they
are indirectly responsible for the demise of one of the world’s rarest primates
and since 2007 have been listed on Appendix 1 of CITES (Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). The illegal
trade in slow lorises, fuelled by their demand as pets in Asia and elsewhere,
appears to be enhanced by people watching the cuddly primates on numerous
YouTube videos.

We set
up eight camera traps over the 8 month period and we now have miles of video
and stills of porcupines, civet cats, jungle cats, mongoose, hares and monkeys,
but nary a single shot of our spotted friend.

Then,
last Thursday night, after a sharp shower of rain, the big cat calmly walked
down our driveway, jumped the fence to our campsite and then disappeared off
into the adjacent jungle. We made some beautiful plaster casts of his pugmarks
in the soft mud and managed to get this single butt-shot as he ambled off the
driveway. The dogs (we too) peacefully slept through it all.

I approached Icon Films with the idea of having students write
and produce music for Icon’s wildlife showreel. Icon would be looking for a
strong contemporary track to help promote its work on-line. The students’
compositions would constitute one of four assignments I was setting for them
and therefore formed part of their academic assessment. More importantly, however,
it would bring their work to the attention of an internationally established
production company creating a broad range of factual content for the major
broadcasters – a great opportunity for the students’ work to be heard and
assessed by industry professionals.

A series of online films featuring one of the world’s best-loved animated characters, Gromit, will be unveiled from Thursday 30 May, as part of a campaign to promote Bristol as a fabulous summer destination for a short break.

Commissioned by Destination Bristol, the film stars a five-foot sculpture of Gromit, one of 80 making up a major new public art trail called Gromit Unleashed, organised by Aardman Animations with charity partner The Grand Appeal. Each Gromit on the trail, set to hit the streets of Bristol this summer, is being designed by celebrities and artists including illustrator Raymond Briggs, comedian Harry Hill and designer Sir Paul Smith.

Download the Press release…

The season finale of Animal Planet’s
best-performing series ever, RIVER MONSTERS, netted a series high 2.2 million
P2+ viewers on Monday night. The Memorial Day, two-hour finale showcased
extreme angler and biologist Jeremy Wade unlocking some of the mysteries of the
Loch Ness Monster and capping off the network’s second annual Monster
Week. “Legend of Loch Ness” is the most-watched RIVER MONSTERS episode
across all demos, including HH (1.4M); P18-49 (1.3M); P25-54 (1.2M); M18-49
(750K); M25-54 (711K); P18-34 (621K); W18-49 (505K); and W25-54 (482K).
The season five finale helped Animal Planet rank among the top two ad-supported
cable networks of the night among M18-49, excluding sports. Animal Planet has
officially greenlit a sixth season to debut in 2014.

Download the Press release…

Icon Films is proud to support the Whitley Awards and make
another film that celebrates the extraordinary work of the individuals and the initiatives
that the fund has supported over the last 20 years. As committed
conservation film makers it was a delight and privilege.

When Filming The Hunger– Death Race, Icon Films was
privileged to work alongside the San Bushmen who opened their community to us
and shared insights into their dying hunting tradition.

In September of 2012, five of the San Bushmen who we had
spent time and filmed with were caught in a bushfire in Namibia. Cgunta
Khao/Khao and his relatives Tuca, Farni and Jonas were trekking in Bushmanland
with an Australian when the fire appeared and to protect the tourist they
encircled her taking the brunt of the fire. Tuca, Farni and Jonas died
due to their sustained injuries and Khao himself was in a critical condition
with 70% burns.

Steve said ‘I’m amazed but chuffed that the judges
were so tickled by our lorises. ‘Hugos’ aren’t given away lightly, so this is a
fantastic honour for Team Gremlin’.

Million Dollar Moon Rock Heist for National Geographic Channels International, Directed by Jeremy Bristow, has been awarded a Certificate of Merit for History and Biography Documentary Production.

Jeremy said ‘This was a fascinating film to make and
would not have been possible without the extraordinary collaboration from NASA
and the FBI. I am delighted that it has been recognised by such a
prestigious festival’.

The ceremony awards night is being held at the Raddison Blu Aqua Hotel, Chicago, USA on Tuesday 23rd April 2013 and all winning productions will be published on the festival's website after the event.

The network's best-performing series, RIVER MONSTERS,
baited viewers with a two-hour, monster-sized season opener, "Face
Ripper," in which host, biologist and extreme angler Jeremy Wade took
viewers along as he investigated a horrific death in a Bolivian river
where a man's face was ripped to shreds. The season premiere, which
aired on Sunday, reeled in gigantic viewers with 1.8M P2+, making it the
most-watched season debut in Animal Planet history and the second most watched episode of River Monsters ever.

(WASHINGTON,
DC – March 14, 2013) National Geographic
Channels International (NGCI) today announced the co-production of Bones of The Buddha (1x60) from Icon Films, which will premiere internationally on National Geographic Channel in early
summer.

Retracing the steps of an unexpected find in Northern India in 1898, Bones of The Buddha explores one of the most amazing discoveries in Buddhist history: a huge stone coffer containing five ancient soapstone jars, over 1000 separate jewels – as well as ash and bone. One of the jars has an inscription indicating that these were the remains of the Buddha himself. But, the most extraordinary find in Indian archaeology has been marred in doubt and scandal for over 100 years. For some, the whole thing is an elaborate hoax. For others, it is the final resting place of the messiah of one of the world’s great religions. Renowned historian of India, Charles Allen, sets out to solve this extraordinary mystery once and for all.

There are monsters still out there ...'River Monsters' and angler Jeremy Wade Plunge into the most dramtic season yet of Animal Planet's best performing series as he goes in serach for murky man killers ...

There may come a time when the question of what
lurks below is answered. But that time isn’t now. For four successful seasons
of Animal Planet’s RIVER MONSTERS, host,
biologist and extreme angler Jeremy Wade has searched for answers, taking
viewers along as he unravels fish tales of giant killers – where sometimes the
fact is stranger than the fiction!

Early in November 2012 I presented the Short Factual award on behalf of Icon Films at the Shepton DigiFest. Short, factual films are a format that's very close to my heart - not just because I have made so many in my career, but also because there can be something very magical and jewel-like in the glimpse they provide into alternate, but entirely real, world...

There’s one natural element that
complicates working with electronic equipment... and that’s water. So what
better way to challenge our intrepid One
Show wildlife team than go under it in the search for the toothy Atlantic Wolf
Fish?

By Alex Brisland General and Development Research Assistant to the Creative Director

Only 7 days have passed since a long university ‘career’ has ended. If I can, in fact, call it a ‘career.’ It was certainly not comparable to how I would imagine that word now. After all, it was often difficult to think beyond the next essay to a world (the ‘real’ world) where careers and council tax were important. University life, for all its wondrous plusses, was also an enormous bubble. And all bubbles burst...

After a final 4 o'clock sugar rush on Friday 28th Sept, Icon Films raised a whopping £115.00 for the Macmillan Coffee Morning - congratulations and and big thanks to Katie Parsons and Jodie Allt for organising.

As one of the major suppliers of the ONE SHOW Icon Films probably makes as many short films as anyone in the UK, somewhere between 60 and 70 a year.
Icon Films was very proud to sponsor the Documentary award last week at the
Bristol Encounters short film festival where Finlay Prestell's Cutting
Loose was a worthy and clear winner. Beautifully shot and edited,
intimate access, emotion and a ring side seat on a world that few otherwise
would see.

During the Encounters Festival I sat on a panel The
Way to Documentary to talk about how directors get to make films and in
particular how to get to make long form documentary films for television...

Owen Gay, Head of Popular Factual at Icon Films was on the Documentary Jury and had this to say :

“It was a genuine privilege to be able to take part in this year’s Encounters judging process. The overall quality of the films was incredibly high and many were profoundly moving – shedding a light on stories new to me or human stories to which I might previously have thought I could never relate. I sincerely hope they all find the audience they so justly deserve.

And there was so much to commend the winning film, “Cutting Loose” by Finlay Pretsel & Adrian McDowall …

Harry and Laura Marshall were proud to present the award to Finlay Pretsell at the Awards Ceremony

Icon's Super8 did just that and went on to pick up Silver in the City of Bristol Rowing Club Corporate Row ...

One thing we have learnt from the 2012
Olympics is that the British are good at sports that involve sitting
down…cycling, horse riding, canoeing and rowing. So that means that sitting in
a boat and rowing must be easy right?

The
Encounters experience doesn’t end with its generous offer of screenings: the
film programmes are complemented by a full schedule of industry events
including panel discussions, masterclasses, workshops and on stage events
providing an important platform to hear some of the industry key players
sharing their knowledge and insight as well as outlining the opportunities
existing for short filmmakers.

Don't miss out on the Documentary Highlights that help make up this year's exciting programme ...

Last Saturday the rain sodden, wildlife hungry, people of Bristol were treated to a live presentation by Dan and Lorne - two thirds of the Wild Scene Investigation team - at the Bristol Festival of Nature.

Our production manager’s words are still ringing in our ears as we leave the office to embark on our most ambitious 4.5 minutes yet. One presenter, three film crews with infrared cameras and an entire network of Londoners spread across our capital city, but will it be enough? ...

Come along to a FREE event organized by Think Future
Now, the sustainability networking organization for Bristol’s Creative
Industries. It’s a different take on sustainability and entertainment,
including comedy, music, bicycles, TV productions, festivals and commercials...

I didn’t have super high hopes for River
Monsters on 3Net, one of the 3D Channels from DirecTV. It was, I
thought, likely to be yet another nature show set in Africa with lots of
hype and little content ... Wrong ...

“You’re filming wildlife in downtown
Raleigh?? There is no wildlife in downtown Raleigh!”

I stared speechless at the man who just
stopped me on the street. Surely he must be joking, I thought. No
wildlife in Raleigh, North Carolina? Tell that to Gadget Boy, Lorne, and the
Hollywood stunt man harnessed to the chimney of a thirteen-story building
busily constructing a specialized camera rig to capture the roosting behaviour
of chimney swifts. I smiled politely and walked past him to enter the
building. There was no time for a debate; I had to get up to the roof.
Time was running out...

Fourth Season Premiere Of River Monsters Is Most-Watched Season Debut in Animal Planet History

1.8 Million Viewers Were Hooked on Season Premiere Episode with 10.5 Million Viewers Tuning in During the All-day RIVER MONSTERS Marathon

Fish on, indeed! Animal Planet snared its biggest fish yet with the season four premiere of RIVER MONSTERS, which aired Sunday with record highs. The episode, “American Killers,” delivered 1.8M P2+ viewers (1.77M), making it the most-watched season debut in Animal Planet history.RIVERS MONSTERS also saw its biggest audience yet among P25-54 with season-four debut.

Download the Press release…

River Monsters 3D is up there with Avatar as one of the
3D films of importance... I know this sounds hyperbolic, but I don't think it
is. There are surprisingly few 3D films that have engaged with the uniqueness
of the stereoscopic experience.

When we set out to make a film about slow lorises, the big question was ‘Why on earth is this cuddly-looking primate armed with a lethal, poisonous bite? (Very few mammals are venomous.) But even before we left for Indonesia we knew that lorises were getting hammered by illegal pet traders, and that this was going to be an important part of the story. The reality, when I saw the undercover footage we shot in the street markets, was truly shocking. What makes it worthwhile, though, is seeing the amazing, positive impact that our film is now having…

Laura Marshall is guest speaker at 'Inspiring Women's Enterprise in TV' - a one day workshop aimed at women working as freelancers or employees in the TV production industry; women
returning to the industry after a career break; women with relevant
transferable skills seeking a career in TV production.